Fabric web



Dec. 11, 1962 J. RASERO ETAL 7,

FABRIC was Filed Sept. 10, 1959 jMZ LA wes/vca- J. fP/LSERO A TTOE/VEY United States Patent 9 FABRIC WEB Lawrence J. Rasero, Middletown, and Thomas Irvin Read, Portland, Conn., assignors to The Russell Manufacturing Company, Middletown, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Sept. 10, 1959, Ser. No. 839,164 1 Claim. (Cl. 2880) This invention relates to fabric webbing adapted to absorb a high mechanical shock load and more particularly to a webbing suitable for use as a picker stick check strap or as a heddle frame harness strap on high speed looms.

Looms which are used in the weaving of textilt fabrics have constantly moving parts, particularly for the control of the Warp threads, by the use of harness frames holding heddles through which the threads pass. These are directed to move upward and downward in order to produce the desired weave.

This motion must be controlled in order to eliminate the shock of starting and stopping and to provide a reliable continuous source of transmitting power from the head motion on the loom, which governs the operation of each harness frame. This is done by interposing between the harness frame and the head motion a harness strap which usually passes over a pulley, as the head motion is on one side of the loom and two pulleys are usually positioned equally across the width of the harness frame on small looms, with more pulleys on the wider looms.

The other area of control is the shuttle that moves through the warp threads and leaves behind it the filling yarn which completes the weave. The shuttle is motivated by a picker stick which has its input power multiplied by being longer on the output side than on the input side. This stick pushes the shuttle out of the box across the shed. The moment the shuttle is released from the box and flies through the warp yarn, the picker stick continues on with its momentum and must be controlled so that it does not hammer itself to pieces or destroy the mechanism which supports and holds it.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a woven material, suitably designed and treated, that can be used in these two areas of work on a loom, which have basically the same requirements.

A harness strap and a picker check strap must be able to absorb shock, must transmit a good deal of power, must be abrasion resistant to the motion, and yet be flexible and have long wear life, flex life and high strength. It should be oil and moisture resistant and be able to support these loads. It must absorb shock and transmit power without stretching, wearing or in any way losing its effectiveness.

It is an object of this invention to provide a woven material made of fibers which are oil and moisture resistant, have high abrasion resistance, as Well as high strength, and when properly impregnated, have all of these qualities increased to a considerable degree.

A further object of this invention is to provide a special weave in which all of the threads perform equally so that the total strength is the sum of the strengths of the individual yarns.

Various other objects and advantages will be apparent as the nature of the invention is more fully disclosed.

The nature of the invention will be better understood by referring to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of a portion of a picker check strap mechanism with shuttle in initial position;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the picker check strap;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged warpwise section of the weave;

FIG. 4 shows a portion of the loom in front elevation with two harness straps over pulleys; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a harness strap.

Referring to the drawing more in detail, the fabric weave is shown in FIG. 3 as a four ply weave having stuifer yarns 10 disposed centrally and with first and second ply filler shots 11 and 12 above the stuffer yarns 10 and third and fourth ply filler shots 13 and 14 below the warp yarn 15 is woven over and under successive upper ply filler shots 11. A second warp yarn 16 is woven between first filler yarns 11 and 12, then over second filler yarn 11, between third filler yarns 11 and 12, under fourth filler yarns 12, between fifth filler yarns .11 and 12 and so on in a repeated pattern.

A third warp yarn 17 is woven as a double chain with the warp yarn 16. The yarn 17 passes between first filler yarns 11 and 12, under second filler yarn 12, between third filler yarns 11 and 12 and over fourth filler yarns 11. The yarns 16 and 17 bind the first and second plies together.

A fourth warp yarn 18 passes between first filler yarns 12 and 13, then extends upwardly over second filler yarn 12, then downwardly between the third filler yarns 12 and 13 and under the fourth filler yarn 13, then between the fifth filler yarns 12 and 13 and so on. A fifth warp yarn 19 forms a double chain with the warp yarn 18 to bind the second and third plies together.

A sixth and seventh warp yarn 20 and 21 is woven as a double chain similar to the warp yarns 16 and 17 to bind the third and fourth plies together, and an eighth warp yarn 22 is woven as a chain over and under successive filler yarns 14 of the bottom ply.

The above weave is somewhat open to provide interspaces for the impregnating resin which is of the clas- -tomeric type having great flexibility, such as neoprene latex. Borden Chemical Company makes a neoprene latex No. 610-40 which is suitable for this original impregnation.

The fabric is thoroughly impregnated with the neoprene latex or polyurethane which is air dried at room temperature. A surface coating of acrylonitrile styrene copolymer latex, for example, that made by Naugatuck Chemical Company, designated as Lotol 5433 is then applied to one or both sides of the fabric. This is again air dried at room temperature and is then press cured at 320 F. for from fifteen to twenty minutes, depending on fabric thickness.

This combined impregnation affords internal pliability and freedom of movement. It reduces the build-up of heat through internal friction and prevents oil and moisture from being absorbed into the fabric.

The surface coating produces a balanced friction that allows the harness straps and check straps to move in their respective areas with little resultant wear, yet they are shock resistant enough to absorb the power that must be diffused or transmitted through their use.

The use of this strip as a picker stick check strap for a loom is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 2 shows the strap 25 having holes 26 at each end to receive securing bolts. In FIG. 1 the strap 25 is mounted below a lay beam 27 by links 28.

A picker stick 29 extends into a shuttle loom 30 carrying a shuttle 31 shown in position to be shot through a warp seal.

The strap 25 forms a stop at both ends of the stroke of the picker stick 29. Due to the non-abrasive surface the resilience and the high tensile strength of the strip it has a relatively long life on high speed looms where the shock load is high. 7

FIGS. 4 and 5 show the use of a strap 35 of the above material as an actuating strap for a heddle frame. The strip 35 is connected by links 36 to a heddle frame 37. The strip passes over a pulley 38 and the other end is connected by an adjustable link 39 to a heddle actuating bar 40. In a wide loom a pair of such strips may be used, connectedto opposite sides of the heddle frame.

In both of the above examples the tensile strength of the strip is equal to the sum of the tensile strength of the individual yarns because the yarns are all equally stressed and each supports its share of the load. Of course the number of plies canbe increased or decreased according to the end use of the strip. For smaller forces the stuifer yarns 10 may be omitted.

The impregnating resin bonds the various warp yarns into a unitary structure and the surface coating improves the wear of the product.

Various other uses will be apparent to a person skilled in the art.

What is claimed is: I

A fabric strip having high tensile strength, flexibility and Wear resistance, comprising a multiple ply Weave composed of a central layer of straight parallel stuffer yarns constituting tension members, a pair of filler yarns disposed in inner and outer plies on each side of said straight stuffer yarns, a pair of chain warp yarns binding together the filler yarns of each pair of inner and outer plies, an additional pair of chain Warp yarns binding together the filler yarns of the two inner plies and extending between the straight stuifer yarns, and additional chain warp yarns woven with the filler yarns of each outer ply, said warp yarns being spun from fibers composed of a polyester of ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid, a flexible elastorneric resin selected from the group consisting of neoprene and polyurethane in the cured state impregnating said fabric and a surface coating of acrylonitrile styrene copolymer covering at least one surface of said fabric to impart abrasion resistance.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,750,493 Spencer Mar. 11, 1930 2,512,433 Leben June 20, 1950 2,786,785 Wise Mar. 26, 1957 2,800,701 Watts et al July 30, 1957 2,862,283 Rasero Dec. 2, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 674,989 Great Britain July 2, 1952 La a. 

